May 01, 2018 | Telecom | North America | Ended
We were at the E Barrett Prettyman US Court House in Washington, DC, for the closing arguments, ending the seven-week Time Warner / AT&T bench trial. Judge Leon will issue his opinion by 12-Jun-18, ahead of the deadline for the transaction on 21-Jun-18. The court proceedings began with 75 minutes of closing arguments from the DoJ’s Conrath. After a lunch break, Petrocelli presented the defence’s closing arguments with Conrath then given a further 15 minutes for rebuttal. Both attorneys focused their closing arguments on the three primary areas of evidence we highlighted in our previous note (Time Warner / AT&T: Expected Verdict, Unwavering Confidence and Crowdedness). These areas are witness testimony, in particular that of industry executives, ordinary course of business documents and economic models. In their final addresses to Judge Leon, both sides clearly had taken to heart the lessons of both US vs. Oracle (2004) and US vs H&R Block (2011), namely: “that for the most part, judges understand and trust documents, testimony and their own common sense more than they do hypothetical economic exercise based on data proxies.”
Contents 1. DoJ Closing Arguments 2. AT&T Closing Arguments 3. Conclusion: Seeking a Common-Sense Solution; Potential for Remedies (4 pages)
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